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My Picks of E3 2016

E3 2016 was a damned good one! In fact it was the best in I can remember – which is funny, because I was really worried about E3 the week before; so much so I made a video about how publishers were trying to kill the expo!

You’ve probably already watched that video though, so here it is, my picks of E3 – the games that I am personally excited to buy!

Days Gone

A surprise game! A few months ago when the title was trademarked everyone thought that it was a sequel to ‘The Last of Us’

When Sony revealed this game I was truly unmoved. It sounded like a second-rate TLOU but then they ended the show with a ten minute section of game-play and I was blown away!

This game looks fucking amazing; there are literally hundreds of zombies on-screen at once and; unlike ‘Dead Rising’, they move at a pace more akin to ’28 Days Later’ than ‘Dawn of the Dead’. You are a bounty hunter in a world that was decimated by a pandemic two years ago – it seems ro be open-world and it is the first ever Sony first-party game made with the Unreal Engine 4 (to my knowledge).

To add to the excitement of this title, it is made by Sony Bend studios who are hugely talented (they made ‘Syphon Filter’ and the excellent ‘Uncharted: Golden Abyss’), I really cannot wait to see what they can do with a larger budget!

We Happy Few

Was another surprise for me; I had never heard of it before – apparently though it was a kickstarter game?!

Basically what we have here is a narrative driven FPS that takes place is a dystopian future where everyone is on pills called “joy” which seemingly makes them agreeable to their position in life and also gives them controlled hallucinations. Your character has decided that he/she is not going to take “joy” anymore and the demo kicks in

Game-play and aesthetic wise it screams ‘Bioshock’ – the world looks reassuringly “organic” and there is a stylised “realism” about the characters as well as mass! I do believe that the game requires the player to monitor things such as tiredness, thirst and hunger as well as enemies. Best news is that it gets released this month into early access on steam and Xbox Preview – check it out if you have the means.

If they nail the story then this could be something very special!

Horizon Zero Dawn

One of the games of last E3 is now one of the games of E3 2016.

Taking the role of Aloy, its you versus your environment. Oh and giant robotic animals that need hunted and/or tamed! Although it’s being made by Guerrilla Games (who have yet to make a genuinely great game) I feel that this could be their opus!

Graphically it looks outstanding; arguably the best looking game on the system – the idea is also absolutely stellar too, and with the RPG-lite elements that are being worked in to the game this could be something very special indeed.

In fact, from the game-play they showed last week; it’s already well on its way to becoming a “must have”!

Zelda: Breath of the Wild

It’s Zelda, it’s cross-generational, it looks stunning, what else is there to say?!

Surely this was game of E3 – it looks like it could be game of the generation.

God of War

I have never been a fan of the ‘God of War’ series; ever! I found Kratos to be completely unlikable, he was nothing more than teenage angst wrapped up the least charismatic character gaming has ever seen.

This soft-reboot/sequel though looks absolutely fantastic!

It’s only taken 4 games for some sort of characterisation of Kratos – and in this game-play we see him as a caring father as well as a protector, mentor and just a little vulnerable. It is definitely taking some cues from TLOU including but not limited to a proper mature story (and not mature as in blood, guts and boobs) and I only hope its narrative can live up to the beautiful visuals!

Because graphically it looks stunning – there is a mass to Kratos and the world seems open and full of things to see, do and murder; the combat also looks visceral and excellent! Best of all though are the clues dotted about the trailer that hint to us potential bosses – including a giant snake (surely Jorgungandr)!

The potential for huge battles and even larger boss battles for this game are almost limitless and I for one am going to be there day one!